Is Fordingbridge, Hampshire a nice place to live?

Is Fordingbridge a nice place to live or is Fordingbridge a bit rough? For us there are a number of factors that make any town a nice place to live, like a low crime rate, low levels of deprivation, the good health of the residents, rent affordability and excellent wages. In this article we will see if Fordingbridge meets our criteria.

How likely are you to a victim of crime in Fordingbridge?

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Fordingbridge. They are a measure of how likely you are to be a victim of personal or material crime in an area, such as muggings or burglary. Naturally rural areas have less crime than urban areas, but for this part of our town assessment we've looked at the 10 wards nearest to the centre of Fordingbridge. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#	Ward	Crime Rank
1	Redlynch and Landford	30413
2	Cranborne & Alderholt	29035
3	Verwood	28922
4	West Moors & Three Legged Cross	24514
5	Downton and Ebble Valley	23654
6	Ringwood North	20659
7	Fordingbridge	19028
8	Downlands and Forest	17510
9	Ringwood South	14428
10	Forest North West	11852

Is Fordingbridge a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Fordingbridge, you want to know if the place is likely to put you on a downward spiral of ill health. For this section of the town assessment, we've examined government health statistics from the 2021 Census General Health question and the Indices of Multiple Deprivation's health element.The table below shows what percentage of Fordingbridge residents answered saying their health was either bad or very bad. To pass this section, the local authority has to have a percentage score less than or equal to 7%.

Local Authority	%
Eastleigh	3.79
New Forest (Fordingbridge)	4.79
Southampton	4.97
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	5.24

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Fordingbridge. They measures the risk of premature death and the impairment of quality of life through poor physical or mental health, lovely! We've collated an average LSOA rank for 10 wards nearest to the centre of Fordingbridge. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#	Ward	Health Rank
1	Verwood (Best)	29648
2	Redlynch and Landford	28632
3	Downlands and Forest	28406
4	Cranborne & Alderholt	28076
5	Ringwood North	25774
6	Downton and Ebble Valley	25244
7	West Moors & Three Legged Cross	24792
8	Fordingbridge	22849
9	Forest North West	22642
10	Ringwood South (Worst)	22539

Is Fordingbridge rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Fordingbridge. In layman's terms, this is how rough the ward is based on mutiple measures of deprivation including; employment, income, health, crime, housing and outside space. To pass this section as the town assessment, 8 out of 10 wards must have a ranking higher than the English average of 16422.5

#	Ward	Deprivation Rank
1	Redlynch and Landford	28681
2	Verwood	28259
3	Cranborne & Alderholt	25018
4	Ringwood North	24760
5	Fordingbridge	24052
6	Downton and Ebble Valley	22817
7	West Moors & Three Legged Cross	20477
8	Ringwood South	18967
9	Downlands and Forest	17732
10	Forest North West	17315

How affordable are the rents in Fordingbridge?

Every six months the Office for National statitics publishes a snapshot of rental costs. These market rental statistics are dated September 2023. We have used the median rental figure for this assessment as we believe this is a more realistic figure than the average (mean) that can be skewed by artificially low and high rents. To pass this section, Fordingbridge rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for Hampshire.

Beds	New Forest	Hampshire
1	£680	£700
2	£850	£850
3	£1050	£1100
4	£1550	£1550

How much can I earn in Fordingbridge per week?

If you are thinking of moving to Fordingbridge, you'll want to know how much you can earn in a job in the town. Every year the government publishes statistics on gross weekly pay, these figures are for September 2023. To pass this section Fordingbridge's local authority needs to be in first or second place compared to the three nearest local authorities.

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Eastleigh	£712.70
2	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole UA	£674.90
3	New Forest (Fordingbridge)	£674.10
4	Southampton UA	£651.60

So, is Fordingbridge a nice place to live?

Fordingbridge has passed our core town assesment with a score of 3/5.  However, the rents in Fordingbridge are more expensive than other parts of Hampshire.

* Probably.